N-armed lead Pak to an uncertain future: Romney

Washington, Oct 8: Armed with "more than 100 nuclear weapons," Pakistan is facing an uncertain future with increasing projections of radical Islamist groups gaining ground, said a leading US presidential candidate from the Republican party.

Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, said Pakistan "awaits the uncertain future, armed with more than 100 nuclear weapons."

"The danger of a failed Pakistan is difficult to overestimate, fraught with nightmare scenarios: Will a nuclear weapon be in the hands of Islamic Jihadists?" he asked in a major foreign policy speech, as he made it clear that if elected he would order a full inter-agency review of the Af-Pak policy of the Obama Administration.

A fact sheet issued by Romney underlined that Pakistan should understand that "any connection between insurgent forces and Pakistan’s security and intelligence forces must be severed". His hardline foreign policy position comes amid mounting pressure on Pakistan by the Obama administration to do more to combat the Haqqani terror network blamed by it for series of attacks on American assests, including the attack on American Embassy in Kabul last month.

"In Afghanistan, after the United States and NATO have withdrawn all forces, will the Taliban find a path back to power? After over a decade of American sacrifice in treasure and blood, will the country sink back into the medieval terrors of fundamentalist rule and the mullahs again open a sanctuary for terrorists?” he asked. Romney's speech, which had reference to all major countries and regions of the world, but for India.

PTI